Day 3 of 2017 SEC Football Media Days is in the books. Here are the five most important quotes from Wednesday at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama.
We only have one more day of 2017 SEC Football Media Days down at the Wynfrey Hotel at Hoover, Alabama. Day 3 saw four SEC programs meet with the college football media: the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Kentucky Wildcats, the Missouri Tigers and the Texas A&M Aggies.
The day that Alabama meets with the SEC media is always the most exciting, as Hoover is a major suburb of Birmingham, ground central for Crimson Tide football fandom. Nick Saban, as well as Barry Odom, Mark Stoops and Kevin Sumlin spoke to the SEC media as the head coaches of their respective teams on Wednesday.
All four head coaches plus one semi-controversial linebacker had some interesting things to say with the college football media. Here are the five best quotes from Day 3 of 2017 SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama. SECSports.com has all the quotes from the entire media event.
5. Barry Odom, Missouri Tigers head coach
On Eric Beisel’s inclusion in SEC Media Days “Also for the Arkansas beat writers, I brought Beisel for that, too, because I understand that we’re supposed to flame that rivalry up a little bit. You’re welcome in advance.” – Barry Odom, Missouri Tigers head coach.
It’s already year two of the Barry Odom era in Missouri football. 2016 was a tough first year for the former Tigers defensive coordinator, as he had the tough task of replacing the iconic Gary Pinkel as head coach. Odom also saw his former athletic director resign the day before his first SEC Media Days last year.
Missouri was one of two SEC schools that didn’t make a bowl game, but one could point to the Battle Line Rivalry game with the Arkansas Razorbacks as a huge step in the right direction for Odom’s program. Clearly, the SEC is asking both member schools to hype up this day after Thanksgiving rivalry game, so Odom is doing just that.
To further rile up the Hogs, Odom carefully selected redshirt senior linebacker Eric Beisel as one of his three players to join him at SEC Media Days. Beisel made some not-so flattering remarks about his SEC neighbors to the south before their rivalry game last year. Fortunately for Missouri, the Tigers would take their second of three games in the emerging Battle Line Rivalry game.
While the inclusion of Texas A&M to the SEC was obvious for marketing and recruiting purposes, Missouri has not had the success of garnering rivals to the degree of the Aggies. Texas A&M had one with Arkansas from their days in the Southwest Conference and an emerging one with LSU. For the Tigers, the Battle Line is increasing in importance and Arkansas is on notice. The rivalries are what make SEC football so compelling, so good on Odom for stirring the pot.